110 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nds.:fTo58„FKB. 7.'57. 



measure ; and I look upon the Venetian foot to 

 be 14 inches (barely) English measure, which 

 would make them 16 hands English. I had no 

 means of ascertaining exactly this point, but I got 

 the guardiano to let me up stairs to the statues ; 

 and having been accustomed to form the idea of 

 the height of living horses, nearly, if not precisely, 

 by standing up beside them, I should put down 

 the bronze figures at 16 hands 3 inches. Perhaps 

 a correspondent of your miscellany will please to 

 inform me, if the Venetian measure be correct, the 

 comparative rate according to the English rule ? 



Sigma. 

 Bichmond, Surrej'. 



Popes '■'■Ode on St. Cecilia s Day." — Malone, 

 in his Life of Di'yden (p. 276.), gives a list of all 

 the Odes on St. Cecilia's Day then known, with 

 the dates when written, and the names of the 

 writers and composers ; which concludes thus — 



" 1708. Pope. It does not appear that Pope's Ode was 

 set to musick in 1708." 



What is the authority for this statement, that 

 Pope's Ode was written in 1708 ? and Avill any of 

 your correspondents inform me when this Ode 

 was first set to music, and where performed ? We 

 know that, after great alterations, it was set by 

 Dr. Greene, and performed at Oxford in 1730. 



P. o. s. 



" The Dying Christian." — Here again I would 

 ask for like information. Steele's request was for 

 " two or three Stanzas for Musick." When, and 

 by whom was it set ? and when and where first 

 performed ? Is the original music known, and 

 can it be seen ? P. O. S. 



" Treasu?-ie of Ancient and Moderne Times." — 

 I have two folio volumes under this title, both 

 printed by W. Jaggard, one in 1613, and the other 

 in 1619. They contain a variety of cui-ious 

 matter, translated from the Spanish, Italian, and 

 French. In the second volume a tliird is pro- 

 mised. Has this ever been published ? And who 

 was the compiler, who describes himself at the 

 end of his dedication to Sir Thomas Brudenell, 

 Baronet, in the first volume, as " your namelesse 

 Well-wilier, desirous to be knowne to none but 

 your Selfe " ? J. C. AVitton. 



Bath. 



" Comme Vesprit vient aux files." — This is the 

 title of a print published some twelve years ago 

 by Gambart and Janin, To what story does it 

 allude ? A cavalier in a slashed doublet (dressed 

 in Gil Bias style, but a perfect Hyperion to Gil 

 Bias) is seated at a table, talking on his fingers, 

 apparently, to five handsome damsels, who are all 

 attention to his storj. 



There is a companion picture, entitled Colin 

 Maillard, or " Blindmau's Buff," but of much in- 



ferior merit. I have put this Query to many 

 persons, but in vain. Henry T. IIilet. 



What was the largest Sum ever given for a Pic- 

 ture f — In Weale's London exhibited in 1851, is 

 the following statement : 



" Mr. G. Tomline, M.P., Carlton House Terrace, is the 

 possessor of a few pictures of high importance. Among 

 them is the Pool of Bethesda, or Christ healing the Pa- 

 ralytic, considered to be the finest picture from the hand 

 of Murillo, for elevation of character and other great 

 qualities of art. It was obtained from the Hospital of 

 La Caridad, at Seville, by Marshal Soult, of whom Mr. 

 Tomline purchased it at a cost of 7500/., being the largest 

 sum ever given for any picture in England." 



Was this statement a correct one, and does it 

 hold good at the present day ? If so, the country- 

 men of the picture-plunderer Soult have com- 

 pletely outdone us in this respect, since Murillo's 

 " Conception of the Virgin" was purchased by the 

 French government, at Marslial Soult's sale in 

 May, 1852, for 24,612/. Has any higher price 

 than this ever been given for a picture in any 

 country ? It will be remarked, that the two 

 pictures mentioned were both by Muriilo, and 

 both had belonged to Marshal Soult. The fifteen 

 Murillos sold at his sale realised 46,530Z. 



CUTHBERT BeDE. 



Sleeford and Torney Families. — I am anxious 

 for information respecting the family of Sleeford, 

 Sleford, or Slefoi^th, formerly of Obthorpe in the 

 county of Lincoln, of whom I can find no later 

 trace than 1662, when the manor of Obthorpe be- 

 longed to them. There is reason to believe that 

 the elder branch of the family had failed before 

 1472, and that a junior branch was settled at 

 Belton in the Isle of Axholme, about the end of 

 the fifteenth century. The arms of the Sleford 

 family were arg. a chevron, or, between 3 trefoils. 

 The Slefords intermarried with the IMortimer, 

 Threckingholme, and Shefl5eld families, and, 1 

 think, also with the Kymes of Friskney, from 

 whom the husband of Anne Ayscough the Mar- 

 tyr is supposed to have descended. 



I shall be glad also of all the information I can 

 procure relative to the family of Torney of Lin- 

 colnshire, with which the Kymes of Friskney also 

 intermarried. Pishet Thompson. 



Stoke Newington. 



Chained Mountains. — 



" One ancient Riquetti, in mad fulfilment of a mad 

 vow, chains two mountains together ; and the chain, with 

 its ' iron star of five rays,' is still to be seen." — Carlyle's 

 Fr. Recol, bk. iv. chap. 4. 



Is this fact ? What are the circumstances ? 



TlIRELKELD. 



I'he Carrying of a Corpse. — A woman carry- 

 ing the other day the corpse of an infant under 

 her, arm to be buried, was declared by the sexton 



